[Kroupware] kolab & outlook connectors (synchronization vs. "live updates")

[Martin Konold]

Am Sonntag, 21. März 2004 16:03 schrieb Frederik Himpe:

Hi Frederik,

> people to which the calendar folder was shared, could still see the

Please be aware of the fact that "shared folders" are not officially supported 
with Kolab 1.0.

This will be different with the upcoming Kolab 2.0.

On the other hand many of your observations will not change due to the 
architecture used. E.g. access control is always on folder level but never on 
message level.

> - changes to the calendar did not always update the free/busy information,
> or at least not immediately.

This could be improved on the client.

> - When a user adds an appointment for another user via its shared
> calendar, the free/busy information of this other user, did not seem to
> get updated.

It gets updated by the client of this other user as soon as this other user 
gets online.

> are only saved on the server when the data is synchronized later on,
> either manually, either when a certain time has passed, either when a
> folder gets selected.

Yes, it is a design decision that changes are done locally first.

> I'm planning to test the Bynari connector soon, but as far as I see, it
> also seems to work with regular synchronization intervals instead of live
> server updates.

Why "live" server updates? The current scheme save many cycles on the server 
while allowing disconnected mode. You may decrease the interval though.

> Why is it so these connectors don't store the data directly on the server?

Mainly Scalability and offline capability.

> Technically, it should be possible that clients update the calendar and
> free/busy information immediately when a change is made, while clients
> could receive immediately change notificiations via the IMAP IDLE
> extension, no?

Yes.

> Is there a chance this could get implemented?

Why? In typical office setups this is not a requirement to my understanding.

> How do other clients such as kontact and Aethera handle this?

Kontact handles it equivalent to Toltec. I dont know much about Aethera. My 
first impression about Aethera was that it is working online.

Regards,
-- martin

Dipl.-Phys. Martin Konold

e r f r a k o n
Erlewein, Frank, Konold & Partner - Beratende Ingenieure und Physiker
Nobelstrasse 15, 70569 Stuttgart, Germany
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email: martin.konold at erfrakon.de